Is Trump smart or does his stupidity just play well?

[Echobelly]

DH reckons that, although Donnie Dumptruck is in most ways thick as mince, he has a smartness for how he gets a response from people, that he knows what he's doing when he tweets some aggressive idiocy.

I think he is not intelligent in any way - eg he's not thinking 'If I blame other people for messes I created, that will take attention away from me', which is what DH suggests. I think he is so moronic and childish that he genuinely doesn't believe anything bad is his fault

AIBU for thinking he doesn't know what he's doing, it just happens to play well with people who think Trump represents a successful, smart person? Or is he actually calculating the effects of what he says?

I think he's genuinely quite dim, and got where he is because daddy's money - and somebody's provision of huge dollops of undiluted praise - insulated him from reality and the consequences of his own actions from birth. He has the killer trifecta of laziness, the attention span of a distracted goldfish and an insatiable appetite for adulation.

What coukd go wrong?

I seem to remember reading that if he took dads money and put it in the bank it would be worth much more that it is now - because he is a rubbish business man. He reminds me of an ex friend (well in our circle, not a friend) who really was a Walter Mitty - tried to project himself as an intelligent, sophisticated, ladies man but in reality he was a nasty, greedy and not very bright mammas boy.

He talked nonsense and if you questioned him he would have a hissy fit, claim his mum had been mugged/car had been firebombed etc etc etc.

One of his "strengths" (by which I mean, has enabled him to get where he is, very sadly) is that he has no shame at all. I guess that is connected to his unbounded ego. Any normal person would be completely and utterly mortified to have made the enormous cock up regarding using bleach; but he's not in the least shamefaced. "Oh, that? I was only being sarcastic."

There have been countless examples of this behaviour over the years.

The cumulative effect is that he has said so many outrageous, shocking, morally disgusting things that people (voters) have become completely desensitised. So now whatever he says - and he could say almost anything - there is practically no negative affect on his popularity.

Look at his statements about covid treatments. Variants of both of his suggestions are just starting clinical trials. And yet the world is frothing because it's 'obviously stupid'

@bingoitsadingo , could you link to these trials? (I am genuinely interested).

Surely if he was being properly briefed and understanding what he is hearing from his medical and scientific advisors he would be able to say “I am pleased to be able to tell you that clinical trials into two new approaches are about to start”. Not waffle on ‘suggesting’ disinfectant.

He was always hailed as a great businessman because of his wealth and yet economic analysts before he was elected said that basically he took his inheritance from his father and has done no better than if he had just left it in the bank.

I think he is senile. Really hope the Americans don't vote him back in. The biggest joke of a man.

He’s just your standard common or garden narcissistic sociopath.

Trump is a malignant narcissist but it makes him a genius at getting attention and manipulating people. It's been horrific watching people and the press dance to his tune for four years but it's his superpower. I wish people could ignore him but he knows how to press the right buttons.

for those PPs who say he's 'genuinely dim' or 'a common or garden sociopath' then how do you think he gained the Republican nomination and get elected when I expect the (political) world isn't short of the dim or sociopaths?

I think he knows exactly what he's doing and the reaction he will get. He's an absolute master at playing people.

Look at his statements about covid treatments. Variants of both of his suggestions are just starting clinical trials. And yet the world is frothing because it's 'obviously stupid'.

What clinical trials? The trials discussed at the briefing examined the effect of light and disinfectant on Covid 19 on surfaces, not inside the body.

When asked about Trump's comments, the best that Dr Birx could say was:

“When he gets new information, he likes to talk that through out loud and really have that dialogue and so that’s what dialogue he was having.,” Birx told Fox News. “I think he just saw the information at the time immediately before the press conference,.. and he was still digesting that information.”

She clearly thinks he is stupid and didn't try to defend his conclusions.

Putin will be lapping this up. His plan to assist trump into power, then watch America implode, is working.

for those PPs who say he's 'genuinely dim' or 'a common or garden sociopath' then how do you think he gained the Republican nomination and get elected when I expect the (political) world isn't short of the dim or sociopaths?

Because he was the only candidate to have appeared on a reality TV Show. People voted for a character created by NBC.

I wish people could ignore him but he knows how to press the right buttons.

Americans shouldn't be in a position where they need to ignore the president during the worst global crisis since World War II.

Surely if he was being properly briefed and understanding what he is hearing from his medical and scientific advisors he would be able to say “I am pleased to be able to tell you that clinical trials into two new approaches are about to start”. Not waffle on ‘suggesting’ disinfectant.

Exactly, and he wouldn't be trying to back track by claiming that he was being sarcastic, and one of his defenders would have mentioned these trials.

At the risk of being unpopular, I'm going to go out on a limb and say I think he's clever. I think he knows exactly what he is doing. He has built a cult around his carefully crafted persona. The "stupid" comments he makes feed into this. His supporters lap it up. Whenever someone (rightfully) calls him out as stupid or prejudice his supporters only become more ferocious in their blind devotion. He becomes a matyr.

I honestly think he will get another 4 years in power.

Remember the good old days when Dan Quayle misspelling "potato" was considered a mortifyingly ignorant gaffe?

Remember the good old days when Dan Quayle misspelling "potato" was considered a mortifyingly ignorant gaffe?

Oh to go back! Remember when we could have a giggle and an eye roll at this stuff?

I'm not sure if Trump is as stupid as he makes out but I'm certain there are some very intelligent people in the shadows pulling the strings. Anyone seen the film 'Vice' ? George W wasn't very clever either.

TheSkyWasDark

*This was what the hatred of Hilary Clinton was about imo (as well as her being a woman).

This sort of thinking is why he will get in again.
Its the party that needs to change to become more attractive to the electorate not the other-way around.

He has built a cult around his carefully crafted persona.

His persona was crafted by the editors on the Apprentice, not Trump.

He has a good line in sales patter, but so do many market stall traders. The difference between Trump and somebody selling fruit and veg on a Saturday is millions from his father and a complete lack of morals.

I don't think he's stupid at all. I think he's built an entire cult following based his revolting stupid caricature.

I don't think he's smart, or fit to be president, but I don't believe he's as stupid as he makes out. It suits him to play that part the way Boris plays the dishevelled, bumbling fool part - underneath it's all manipulation. And people seem to eat it right up.

Sorry, my comment was unfair to market stall traders.

Trump has never run a successful business that wasn't propped up by his father or crime.

You have to ask yourself whether you can imagine any of our politicians touting quack cures or being 'sarcastic' during a daily briefing...

I'm pretty sure he is well briefed and has clear, cogent notes and even coherent speeches written for him. I think when he is the centre of attention, he just forgets all that preparation and starts boasting, preening and playing to the gallery. He must be a nightmare to work for!

Determination of the Effectiveness of Oral Chlorine Dioxide in the Treatment of COVID 19
UV antiviral treatment in development (don't think this is in clinical trials yet)

@YinMnBlue

I'm not suggesting he knew about these (his subsequent comments make it very clear he didn't and was trying to rescue himself against the backlash). It was very obviously an off-the-top-of-his-head idea and I'm not suggesting it was informed by any understanding or knowledge at all.
I just think it's a bit embarrassing for the science community (of which I am part) that everyone immediately jumps to pointing out how OBVIOUSLY it's stupid and EVERYONE knows that, when actually, oral bleach and UV are treatment ideas that are actually in development and testing. Maybe they won't work, who knows. Most ideas don't. But maybe it's not as obviously stupid as a lot of people are saying.

That 'study' (or recruitment) is led by a Colombian doctor(?) who posts on fb in block caps. He's apparently the same person who contacted Trump with the DM suggestion that it's a cure - before the symtudy has even begun.

Nope - give me a bunch of Tories taking sound scientific advice over Trump anyday, even though I didn't vote for them.

And have you noticed that Raab, Hancock, Eustice et al are unfailingly polite to journalists' questions, even the identifiably hostile ones, and answer them courteously, encouraging follow-up questions? Never have I seen our government ministers or the various experts who present alongside them turn on a questioner or the organ they represent with the vitriol or dismissal Trump does.

If any of them did, we would not expect to see them again!

Sorry, I don't know what a DM suggestion is either - the block caps gremlin got me!